1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a method, and a computer-readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with development of recent techniques, a method of performing wireless power supply without directly connecting devices via a cable has been introduced. Billing processing may be performed for charging of the battery of a device as part of a service. As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-8267, for example, there has been proposed a system in which the amount of charge of a device which has been charged is checked, and billing processing is performed for the amount of charge.
In the above-described conventional technique, however, only when communication for billing for charging is always connected, billing processing is correctly performed.
Furthermore, when billing processing is performed for conventional wired charging, it is performed according to the time. In this case, it is possible to perform billing processing according to the time since the power supply efficiency is ensured. As for wireless charging, however, since the charging efficiency changes depending on the position of a charged apparatus, there is a risk that the amount of charge of the apparatus may not be constant when billing processing is performed according to the time. Consequently, a system in which billing processing is simply performed according to the time is disadvantageous to the user.
In the case of the conventional wired charging, if a charging cable is pulled out, it becomes impossible to grasp information thereafter. It is, therefore, difficult to build a system for performing billing after charging. As a result, a system configuration for performing charging while reliably performing billing is required.